Wednesday, October 17, 2012

My Little Pony comic book

I've written about the TV cartoon My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic before, and you may be familiar with the show's popularity at this point. A rare instance where a cartoon based on a children's toy is actually good (in terms of writing and animation, despite being done in Flash). Not to mention, a cartoon clearly aimed a female demographic that has gained foothold with the male viewers.

Hasbro, the toy company that owns the franchise, is certainly not ignorant of the unexpected acclaim the show has, which is why they licensed the rights for a monthly comic book to IDW Publishing. The writing duties are handled by Katie Cook while the drawings are done by Andy Price.

Even with the massive fandom they were unprepared when the numbers for the pre-orders came in: over 90,000. For comparison, this is what the sales figures for comic books are like these days. A My Little Pony comic book actually outsold the likes of Batman, Spider-Man, and X-Men, making it the only comic book put out by an independent publisher (read: not Marvel or D.C.) to be in the Top 10 Sales list; it may reach Top 5 by the time the release date comes out.

I can understand the hype. The artwork alone is top-notch, actually going beyond how the show looks; as expressive as the character posing and faces can be in the show, it's still restrained by the Flash animation system. Here, the drawings are all done on pen and ink, which has more freedom for the artwork.

The comic book can be ordered in comic book stores across country. However, if there are no such shops nearby, here are online sites that can ship 'em for you.